by T. A. White
“Possibly,” I said, stepping forward.
Thomas was here with no threats or recriminations. If he was willing to help, I’d take it. Hell, I’d even sell him my soul if it meant Linda would get better. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for that little girl.
“Mine will have a better likelihood of healing her,” Thomas said.
I believed him. He was centuries older than I and powerful in ways I was just beginning to comprehend. He was a master while I was just barely a vampire.
Still, I hesitated to accept. I couldn’t help looking for the trap hidden in his offer. Because that’s what it was.
“Will she be like me?” I forced myself to ask.
I wasn’t even sure I would tell him no if he answered “yes”. I just wanted her to live. I hadn’t realized before now, how deep I was willing to sink if it meant her health.
“No,” he said. “I would need to drain her unto death after exchanging blood with her for years, for that to be a real risk.”
I frowned. That hadn’t been the case with me.
He inclined his head, understanding where my thoughts had gone. “You are a special case. The magic at your core reacted violently to my bite, changing you outside the normal course of things. For her, my blood will simply heal her. She might be a little stronger physically, a little faster, and live a little longer, but one feeding will not have many long-term consequences.”
I hesitated still.
There was a reason there were sayings warning one to beware of people bearing gifts. Few things in this world were free. I’d learned that more than most.
“What’s the catch?” I asked.
I was doing this. I knew that, but I wanted to know exactly what I was giving up.
“Nothing,” Thomas said. “You’ve already given me more than I could imagine.”
Uh huh. I didn’t quite believe that.
“Perhaps I just want to show you I’m not the monster you’ve made me out to be,” he said simply.
I didn’t know about that. He did force me to drink from a human, even used compulsion to do it. For all his dislike of Niamh’s methods, he wasn’t above doing the same when push came to shove.
I sighed. Perhaps I was being too hard on him. It was human blood that had probably kept me alive during the hunt, giving me the strength I needed to keep going. Not to mention his concern about toxicity. Devolution.
He read the acceptance on my face and stood.
The feeding was a simple one. Thomas used a sharp nail to open a line of blood then held it to Linda’s mouth.
Watching the exchange of blood was fascinating. The power residing in Thomas flowed down into Linda, pooling in her center before dispersing through her body.
Then it was over and Thomas stepped back, his wound closing.
“That’s it?” I asked.
“I’ll monitor her. Depending on how she reacts, she may need more,” he told me.
I nodded. I tried to keep my hope contained, but it was hard.
Thomas left, and then it was just Liam and me in the room with Linda.
“Thank you for that,” I told him. “I know you’re a big part of why he volunteered.”
“He would have gotten around to it.” Liam made a small movement. “Eventually.”
But probably not until he’d tried to bargain with me, destroying any chance of an amicable relationship between the two of us.
“What now?” I asked.
He stepped closer, clasping the nape of my neck as he angled my head for a kiss. Desire rose between the two of us. It was quick but potent, as we drew back, panting slightly. The bedside of my ill niece wasn’t the place to indulge.
“I think your generation calls it dating,” he said with a wicked smile.
I raised an eyebrow. “And if I decide I don’t want to date?”
He nipped my chin. “I still have nine nights to convince you to my way of thinking.”
“Nine? I gave you at least four,” I said, jerking back.
His smile turned dark. “I only asked for the first.”
My mouth dropped open in dismay as he stepped around me and sauntered to the door. “You could save me the trouble and just move in with me.”
“Not in this lifetime,” I snarled.
“Ah well, I’ll enjoy the chase.” The door closed after him, leaving me almost fuming with anger as I stared after him.
Tricky, tricky vampire. I should have known I wasn’t getting off that easy.
*
Later that night, I rolled my bike to a stop in front of my apartment building, surprised at the brand-new stairway leading up to my door. Looked like Thomas had finally gotten around to repairing them.
I glanced at the space next to them where the black Escalade had once sat. And looked again. In its place was a Jaguar F-Type, with a burnt umber paint job.
I hesitated in front of it, a sneaking suspicion I knew where it had come from. It was identical to the car Liam had. In fact, it was that car.
I walked past it, undecided about what to do with it and not ready to figure out the tangled web it represented.
To my surprise, the light in Niall and Cadell’s apartment was on. They were still here. I thought with Niamh dead and the barrow established, they would have returned to the Summerlands. Not the case. It confirmed my suspicion they had other reasons to linger besides the Wild Hunt.
I put it out of my mind. That was a problem for tomorrow’s Aileen. Tonight’s Aileen was looking forward to a quiet evening watching Netflix and reading.
“Aileen,” my dad said, stepping out of a car that I hadn’t noticed until now.
I hesitated, the desire to disappear into my apartment strong. It had been a long couple of days. I didn’t know if I wanted to deal with family drama right now.
“Please,” he said.
Resignation filled me. This was my dad. As tempting it was to duck him, it wouldn’t help in the long run. I propped my bike against the stairs, turning to face him. “What is it?”
“I know you were at the hospital earlier,” he said.
I didn’t react.
“I’m sorry you felt you had to find a time when nobody else was there,” he said.
I stiffened, disliking how he’d made things sound like my fault.
“I’m sorry we made you feel like you needed to do that.” He corrected himself before I could.
I didn’t know what to say to him. This was the man who had raised me, kissed my cuts and scrapes when I fell, and had been my biggest champion even when I felt like I failed. My dad. The man who’d lied to me my entire life.
“Me too,” I finally said.
All the anger had drained from me, leaving sadness in its place.
“Are you going to invite me up?” he asked.
I shook my head. I didn’t have it in me to be kind. Not tonight. My home was a safe space for me. I didn’t want anger and drama to contaminate it.
“Say what you need to say.”
He nodded, his face turning unbearably sad. “I guess I deserved that.”
“It’s been a really long couple of days. I’d like to go to bed,” I said when he didn’t speak.
“Your mother doesn’t want me here,” he confessed.
That didn’t surprise me. The bigger surprise was that he was here even without her blessing. He’d always deferred to her, letting her run the show. Not because he was weak, but because my mom was comfortable taking charge and he loved her enough to let her.
He held out his hand, a manila envelope in it.
“What’s that?” I asked, not taking it.
“Information about your biological father,” he said. “I kept it. Your mom doesn’t know I have it, but I thought you might need it someday.”
I didn’t take it from him. I couldn’t. All my life he’d been my dad; taking that envelope from him threatened to negate that.
His eyes were red and his voice clogged with emotion as he shook it at me. “This doesn’t ch
ange anything. I’m still your dad. You’re still my daughter. I don’t care that we don’t share blood.”
I reached out and took the envelope from him. Hiding from the truth wouldn’t help me, and it wouldn’t heal wounds that were a lifetime in the making. Sometimes the best thing to do is to rip the band-aid off and hope for the best.
“Your mother loves you, you know that, right?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I do. I just wish she accepted me too.”
He didn’t have anything to say to that, defeat overwhelming him. His shoulders slumped as he shuffled back to his car.
It was painful to watch him go, the envelope clutched in my hand as he drove off, the bitter taste of too many things still left unsaid in my mouth.
My phone rang.
I dug it out of my pocket and looked at the screen. Jerry calling.
I hit the answer button and grabbed the bike before climbing the stairs. “This is Aileen.”
“I never did say thank you for what you did,” he said.
I contained my surprise at his thanks, something Fae normally avoided saying as it implied a debt they would have to repay. I suppose, though, he hadn’t quite said it directly, skirting the sentiment skillfully.
I unlocked the door and let myself in. “Seems to me, you freed yourself.”
His chuckle was a low rumble. “Funny thing that. None of us could do anything against her even without the hunt. Not until you bit her.”
“Blood loss has a way of weakening a body,” I said, throwing my keys on the table.
“Did you know the Fae tell stories of a creature, one able to see magic—more importantly, one able to break magic?” he asked conversationally.
I stopped what I was doing and straightened, my insides going cold.
“That sounds like a fascinating fairy tale,” I said, keeping my voice light.
“Indeed,” Jerry said.
“Is that why you called? To recite a fairy tale?”
“No, I called to offer you a job,” he said.
The doorbell rang.
“You said you can’t rehire people.”
I opened the door to find an irate sphinx standing on my landing. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for days!”
I held up a hand, halting his emotional outburst.
“I’ll make an exception for you,” he said.
It was a tempting offer. My old job, one I knew how to do.
“I appreciate the offer but a new opportunity just knocked on my door,” I told him. I hung up the phone.
The sphinx waited, his face unhappy.
I looked him over and smiled. “First, we’re going to agree on terms. Then we’ll talk about me finding your missing scroll.”
I stepped back and let him into the apartment.
Later that night I picked up the envelope my dad had given me, laying each piece of paper on the desk in front of me. It wasn’t much. Just a few photos, a birth certificate and a name.
Bryan Volsk. My biological father.
DISCOVER MORE BY T.A. WHITE
The Broken Lands Series
Pathfinder’s Way – Book One
Mist’s Edge – Book Two
Wayfarer’s Keep – Book Three
The Dragon-Ridden Chronicles
Dragon-Ridden – Book One
Of Bone and Ruin – Book Two
Destruction’s Ascent – Book Three
Shifting Seas - Novella
The Aileen Travers Series
Shadow’s Messenger – Book One
Midnight’s Emissary – Book Two
Moonlight’s Ambassador – Book Three
CONNECT WITH ME
Twitter: @tawhiteauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tawhiteauthor/
Website: http://www.tawhiteauthor.com/
Blog: http://dragon-ridden.blogspot.com/
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Writing is my first love. Even before I could read or put coherent sentences down on paper, I would beg the older kids to team up with me for the purpose of crafting ghost stories to share with our friends. This first writing partnership came to a tragic end when my coauthor decided to quit a day later and I threw my cookies at her head. This led to my conclusion that I worked better alone. Today, I stick with solo writing, telling the stories that would otherwise keep me up at night.
Most days (and nights) are spent feeding my tea addiction while defending the computer keyboard from my feline companions, Loki and Odin.
